In last week’s blog post, The Refinishing Touch team discussed the importance of environmental preservation, especially in the revitalized, booming hospitality industry. A great example of green leadership and implementation of sustainable practices were found at Marriott’s new TownePlace Suites located in Denver Airport at Gateway Park – and now another eco-friendly competitor has made its own mark.

This is a big step in the right direction toward Wyndham’s corporate goal – achieving a 12 percent total carbon footprint reduction by the year 2016. A large part of the program’s success is due to the 2010 implementation of the Wyndham Green Toolbox, a cutting-edge software program that allows all of Wyndham’s worldwide businesses to centralize and report sustainability tracking and measuring.

Through the use of its Green Toolbox, our furniture asset management services and other eco-friendly strategies, the Wyndham brand is ranked as one of the top 100 greenest companies in the US by Newsweek – coming in at number one among hospitality and restaurant companies.

For the latest green happenings in the hospitality, government and higher education industries, be sure to sign up for our quarterly newsletter, InTouch. You can do so by visiting our homepage, and entering your contact information in the right-hand panel.

Along with the latest in sustainability news, we’ll also uncover the most popular answers to our weekly blog polls and fill you in on some of the team’s most recent renovation projects. You don’t want to miss the next issue of InTouch when it arrives at the beginning of November!

Environmental consciousness remains a key component to our business, as well as the various hoteliers we work with. To commemorate such sustainable efforts, The Refinishing Touch will be running a three part blog series over the next two weeks, each spotlighting a different hotel brand that is currently making moves to become a greener establishment.

Just recently, the new TownePlace Suites located in Denver Airport at Gateway Park opened with a silver LEED ranking, proving that the Marriott brand’s commitment to ‘going green’ has become a core component of the corporate mission. The LEED-certified building is making history, becoming the first of the TownePlace Suites ever to be built with such a ranking.

Marriott executives have decided to pursue a LEED-certified line of locations because of consumer reports indicating hotel sustainability, along with environmental responsibility, is an important factor to guests when deciding which hotel to book. Other Marriott brands in the LEED program include the Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites.

In addition, the LEED building will generate a long-term cost reduction for Marriott, adding a bonus to its bottom line – much like our furniture asset management services, which save our clients up to 80 percent in budget costs when compared to buying new.